Continuation
by kurotaiyo to amegato
Summary: Add one year to Tenipuri's setting. Send half the group to high school. Make them hang out together some more. Throw two new girls into the mix, and you have Continuation. TezukaxOC, FujixOC
1. In Which Time Has Passed

**Disclaimer:** Neither Kurotaiyo nor Amegato own Prince of Tennis. Assume this disclaimer applies to all following chapters.**  
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**Continuation  
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**Introduction**

"Oi, Chibi! Over here!" Echizen turned around to see Kikumaru bouncing up and down and Oishi standing quietly next to him.

"Long time no see, Kikumaru sempai, Oishi Sempai," Echizen replied. He walked over and was just about to ask where everyone else was when he was suddenly strangled from behind.

"Echizen! What's wrong with you? I told you to wait for me! I had to be stuck alone with Mamushi here." All three looked up to see Momoshiro smiling happily and Kaidoh glaring at him.

"Kaidoh, Momo! It's so nice to see you, nya!", Kikumaru exclaimed.

"Uh."

"Oi, Mamushi. At least put some more enthusiasm in your voice. We haven't seen Kikumaru sempai and Oishi sempai for a long time!" Momoshiro scolded Kaidoh.

Echizen sighed.

"Ne, where are Kawamaru-sempai and Inui-sempai?"

"They're coming soon," Oishi replied. "Ah, look, they're here!" Kikumaru bounded up to Inui and Kawamura.

"Oi, long time no see, Kawamura, Inui!" Kawamura smiled shyly and waved, while Inui's glasses gleamed as Kikumaru smothered them.

"Eiji is still the same as ever. I'm sorry," Oishi added between laughs. After a while, the laughing died down and Momo spoke up.

"Ne, Oishi, how's Nekogaku with Eiji sempai? It was really lucky that you two got into the same school, unlike everyone else from the tennis club last year."

"It's good," Oishi told him. "I find it a bit hard sometimes, but the tennis team is really good. Eiji and I still play doubles together. Of course, their tennis team isn't nearly as good as Tezuka's or Fuji's schools', but we've been ranked third after them," Oishi replied.

"Third? That's really cool!" Momo responded. Echizen said nothing.

"My high school, Otagaku is fighting for that place." Inui walked up to the three along with Kawamura and Kikumaru. Echizen looked at Kawamura.

"Ne, Sempai, how's Makigaku?"

"It's good, Ryoma-kun. I've learned a lot of sushi techniques and the tennis team there is also fighting for third. Even though I told myself I wouldn't play tennis in high school, I couldn't help but join. I don't play as a regular though. "

Ryoma sighed, "Mada mada dane."

"What?" Everyone exclaimed.

"You guys are just fighting for third? Why not second or first?"

"Ochibi-chan," Eiji stretched out the words, just as he stretched his arms out to the side in mock-defeat. "The first two teams have Fuji and Buchou. They specifically recruit the best players." Ryoma shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh. Well, are we going to see the game or not?"

"Hai!"

The group arrived at the courts just in time to see the match start. Doubles two was up. The former captains of Yamabuki Gakuen and St. Rudolf Gakuen, Minami Kentarou and Yoshirou Akazawa were playing from Fuji's school, Kawada Gakuen against a third-year they didn't know and Eishirou Kite, formerly of Higa Chuu on Tezuka's school, Teishu Gakuen's side. The match went fairly quickly with Kentarou and Akazawa winning 6-0.

"Wah! Good job, Kawagaku!" Kikumaru exclaimed. Momo applauded and suddenly jerked forward.

"Ne, there's Buchou!"

Everyone craned forward and saw Tezuka glaring at them. They all laughed and waved, and Tezuka waved back.

"Hoi hoi! Was that a smile from Tezuka?" Kikumaru hooted. "Nice! All right, where's Fuji then?" Everyone looked around and finally found Fuji talking to a young boy. Kawamura waved.

"Fuji! Over here!" Fuji looked up and smiled (well, he smiled a bigger smile than he was already smiling, at least). He waved and turned back to the boy, gesturing in their direction. When the boy's eyes finally found them, Fuji turned back and smiled some more.

"Hey, who's that guy? Don't you guys think he looks like a girl?" Eiji laughed to his friends.

"He really looks too girly," Kaidoh mumbled.

"Oi, Mamushi! You're actually talking! Jealous that the boy looks more pleasant than you, baka?" Momo teased.

"I am not an idiot!" Kaidoh yelled back.

"Hey, hey, stop yelling at each other," Oishi called over them frantically, trying to calm them down.

* * *

Fuji had been sitting by himself when he noticed a new boy sitting nearby. 

Oh well, there wasn't much else to do right now, anyways.

He went over and bowed.

"Good afternoon, I am Shusuke Fuji. Pleased to meet you…"

The boy looked up. He had brown hair that looked very similar to Fuji's in style, but the resemblance pretty much ended there. There was something foreign about his face, though Fuji did not know what. Maybe it was the large-by-Asian-standards cat-like eyes, or the unusually pale, seemingly well-tended skin. Besides that, he didn't wear Fuji's customary smile. Instead, he stared at Fuji for a moment or so before squeezing his eyes shut in a smile.

"I'm Kurosawa Sakuya. Nice to meet you," he said quietly. Fuji opened his eyes briefly then shut them again in a smile. There was something off about his voice, too – was it unusually high? - but he let it pass. He'd seen plenty of boys who blurred gender lines all too easily, and this one wasn't that much different from the rest.

"Do you play tennis?" Fuji asked politely.

"No, not that I can remember. I'm allowed to sit here because I'm doing a report for the paper." That statement practically invited further questioning, but Fuji chose not to follow that specific line of thought.

"Is that so? But you're watching it so intently."

"I don't know why, but it sends this thrill through my body when I see others play. I guess that's why I decided to write for the school newspaper – I get a free excuse to watch people play tennis." Kurosawa broke into a wide, don't-look-at-me-I'm-innocent smile, and Fuji decided this could definitely be interesting.

"I see." He nodded gravely, causing Kurosawa to chuckle. "If you don't mind my asking, what school do you go to?" Kurosawa slowly stopped chuckling, trading his innocent smile in for a cocked head and some rather violent blinking.

"Um, yours…" He replied awkwardly. Fuji chose to ignore the awkwardness.

"Ah. I didn't realize it. You're in my year?"

"Yes."

"Fuji! Over here!" Fuji turned his head to find his friends waving excitedly at him. He hadn't expected that. He waved in return, albeit a bit more calmly than his friends were doing. Likely curious about why he just started waving to the stands, Kurosawa turned around as well and gave him a blank look. Chuckling, Fuji pointed at his friends: Momoshiro had just leaned in and shouted something in Kaidoh's ear, and Kaidoh had jumped at him. Fuji didn't need to hear him hissing, he'd seen the scene play out exactly the same way more times than he could count. "Oishi stopped it, didn't he?" He asked Kurosawa, whose eyes were open wide and worried. Kurosawa nodded mutely. "So typical of him. Back on track with our conversation… where were we?"

"Um… I think you asked me if I was in your year, and I said yes."

"Oh, okay then. My name's Fuji Shusuke. I went to Seigaku for middle school, and I'm in your year as well. Which middle school did you go to?"

A panicky sort of look had come over Kurosawa's face, as he stuttered out an "I… don't know."

"Eh?" Fuji asked, a tiny bit triumphant inside. He _knew_ this person was interesting! "How do you not know?"

"I don't remember." Fuji opened his eyes, then shut them again so quickly it was as if he'd never opened them. Something was really odd about this Kurosawa kid.

'This Kurosawa kid' was grinning. Fuji sent him a nonverbal question, and he answered it, seemingly without noticing. "Ne," he said, nudging Fuji's elbow. "That really cool looking freshman on the other team is playing." Fuji adjusted his gaze to see Tezuka calmly walking to the court. "Oh," He realized, "I didn't see who won Doubles One!"

Kurosawa laughed. "We lost," he grinned, shrugging lightly.

* * *

Aikawa Ren was at… a tennis game. 

She wasn't quite sure _why_ she was at a tennis game. It wasn't even one of her own high school's tennis matches. Looking back, she thought she could vaguely remember one of her friends saying that there was a certain player she called "Fuji-sama" that would be playing. Apparently she just had to be there to watch, and she didn't want to go alone because then it would look to this "Fuji-sama" that she didn't have friends and then there would be no way "Fuji-sama" would ever even consider dating her.

Ah. That was why.

Well, either way, Ren was at a tennis game with her friend Sachiko, who had a celebrity crush on a tennis player by the name of Fuji. Apparently she was supposed to be very upset because this Fuji-sama's school wasn't winning by as much as she'd like. The opposing team, Teishu Gakuen, had won the doubles one match, and Sachiko had gripped onto Ren's wrist so that Ren could feel her friend's nails digging into the flesh of her skin.

…That had been quite painful.

"It'll be all right, Sachiko-chan… If, uh… Fuji-sama's school is as good as you say it is, I'm sure they'll catch up," Ren had assured her friend, hoping that Sachiko would relieve the tension on her wrist. To her relief, it worked, and her friend was now leaning forward in her seat, trying to catch a good view of the game. Digging back into the depths of her mind for some memory of how tennis was played and scored, she pulled out a memory of a time when her parents had tried to send her to tennis lessons. The lessons themselves hadn't been pretty, of course, but she did learn the scoring, and she referenced it to try to make sense of the sport.

There were two people on each side of the court, so it was doubles. Apparently the score was 40-30, with Teishu Gakuen leading. Which was a bad thing, as Sachiko was clenching her fists, looking for something to grab onto. Pushing her hair behind her left ear, Ren made sure to leave her hand in a slightly less accessible position than her side, and settled on leaning it across her right thigh.

The Teishu Gakuen player made the final point of the first match, and Ren watched fearfully, almond-shaped eyes blinking a bit, as her friend made several motions as if she wasn't sure whether to stand up and yell at the referee or strangle someone. She stopped soon, though, to gape, and Ren turned her face back towards the court to find out why.

There was a rather handsome boy, also seemingly a first-year, standing in the court, as well as a not-so-handsome one. Ren was fairly certain that her friend would only be gaping at the good-looking one (Sachiko was a bit superficial like that), but she was also fairly certain that she had said her "Fuji-sama" was on Kawada Gakuen, and the better-looking of the players was definitely wearing a jacket that marked him as a member of Teigaku.

"Ne, Sachiko-chan," she whispered to her friend. "Who are you staring at?"

"Ren-chan, I knew you were clueless, but I didn't know you were this clueless!" Her friend shot back in a perfectly audible stage whisper. "He's Tezuka Kunimitsu-sama, a national-level player! He was in Seigaku with Fuji-sama, and he was the captain of the tennis club! They said he was invincible in his second and third years!" Ren winced a bit at the accusation, but answered neutrally.

"Ah."

And as if the referee had heard her and waited for her to comprehend, he chose that moment to start the game. Tezuka Kunimitsu served. Ren was spellbound.

She knew he was good-looking – if anything, Sachiko did have good taste in guys, and if Ren had turned to the side she would have seen the proverbial hearts blossoming in her friend's eyes. But that wasn't what glued her gaze to the boy as surely as her friend's was; it was the absolute _grace_ with which he played. Few things seemed to catch him off guard, and he moved as if the whole game were a previously choreographed dance that he had practiced millions of times already. The people she had seen play earlier were good (granted, she hadn't exactly paid attention to the first few games), but this Tezuka Kunimitsu was able to return everything his opponent shot at him with twice as much speed from nearly anywhere on the field.

The game was over before she noticed, and only then did she find that her jaw was open and hastily clamp it shut.

"That was really good…" The dark-haired girl muttered, more to herself than anyone else, but her friend replied too.

"Yes, supposedly that's the power of the Seigaku regulars, especially from last year. Tezuka Kunimitsu, the captain, Echizen Ryoma, the first year prodigy, Kaidoh Kaoru, the Viper, Sadaharu Inui, the data tennis player, Momoshiro Takeshi, with his dunk smash, Kawamura Takashi, with his burning serve, Kikumaru Eiji and Oishi Shuichiro, the Golden Pair, and of course, Fuji Shusuke-sama." She said this all in one breath, and inhaled quickly soon after, clasping her hands to her heart as she said Fuji Shusuke's name.

"Ne, Ren? Ren? Are you okay?" she asked, as she opened her eyes expecting to find her friend surprised, maybe, and instead saw what to her eyes was a very exaggerated reaction. Aikawa Ren was staring, almost through her as opposed to at her.

As a matter of fact, Ren was staring at the group of boys in the front row of the stands that Tezuka Kunimitsu was currently waving at. They seemed to be the Seigaku regulars, if the fact that there were six players, one of whom could only be described as short, said anything. Sachiko finally noticed what Ren's gaze was fixed on, and confirmed Ren's suspicions about who that group was. Because one boy in that group looked very familiar to Ren, and Sachiko's earlier mention of his name only proved his identity.

Kikumaru Eiji. And he was wearing a Nekoboushi Gakuen uniform.

* * *

Fuji and Kurosawa watched Tezuka play. After the match ended, Fuji turned to find Kurosawa staring intently at Tezuka. 

"He's good, used to be the captain for Seigaku, my middle school," Fuji said.

"Ne, that move he did. He didn't even move from his spot. It looks familiar."

"Tezuka Zone? That's one of his signature moves. Ah- I'm up soon." The match ended quickly, with Tezuka winning. Fuji walked to the court where his opponent was waiting and extended his hand in greeting.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Shusuke Fuji."

"Nao," his opponent replied, squeezing Fuji's hand so hard Fuji thought the skin might break. "Hm. So you're the self-proclaimed tensai. You're so girly and thin! How the hell can you possibly beat me?"

Fuji's smile didn't actually change physically, but something in the way he held himself made Kurosawa's eyebrows knit together.

"Let's play."

The game started with Fuji serving. They rallied and Fuji eventually won the first match. Then he won the next, and the next one, and the next one. By the sixth match, Nao seemed pretty desperate. Fuji's Tsubame Gaeshi and Higuma Otoshi had completely thrown him off, and he lost every time Fuji used them.

He snarled. "You may be a genius, but geniuses tend to be very weak."

Kurosawa overheard this and murmured, "What is he up to?"

Tezuka also heard and began to feel nervous for Fuji. Fuji, on the other hand, was not affected. He actually had not been playing his best since he was still wearing his wrist and ankle weights. His coach had told him that this match was just a training match, and he was not to go all out. Nao served the ball and the two began to rally again. Suddenly Kawamura shouted, "Hadokyuu! Fuji, watch out!"

It was too late. The ball went extremely fast and smashed right into Fuji's face, causing him to collapse unconscious. Kurosawa was silent while looking at the faces of the others. Everyone was stunned. Tezuka's face was contorted; he didn't want to attack his teammate, but he was angry at Nao for hurting Fuji. Kikumaru had jumped forward, but was held back by Oishi. Momo and Ryoma were shocked, Kaidoh hissed like crazy, and Kawamura was nearly crying. Inui pushed up his glasses and said, "There is a 98 chance that Fuji will wake up well within the next 10 minutes."

Tezuka sent Inui a quick glance, Momoshiro breathed out in a sigh of relief, and Kikumaru took Oishi by surprise by lashing out behind him at Inui.

"Oi, Inui! Don't you have any feelings?"

"Now Eiji, calm down! Inui was just stating a fact!

* * *

Kurosawa had looked like he was about to turn back when he saw a girl running to the court, only to be stopped by her friend. 

"Sachiko! You can't go on the court during a game!" the friend said.

"But Fuji sama is hurt!"

"I doubt he feels anything right now, considering that he's unconscious." Kurosawa chuckled at the friend's comment and proceeded to walk to the court. The referee and some other players had moved Fuji to the stands where they started to yell for the ambulance. Kurosawa picked up the ball and the racket that fell out of Fuji's hands.

Kawamura sensed a sudden change in the environment.

"Ne, did you guys notice how the air seems more chilly?"

"It's him," Ryoma replied, pointing a languid finger at Kurosawa. "Something about him feels different."

Kawamura watched, wide-eyed, as the boy that Fuji was talking to before spun around to face Nao.

"Ne, baka! I play for Fuji now. Can you beat me?" The referee was blowing his whistle by the time the words "I play" had left the boy's mouth, but both the boys on the court ignored him.

Nao gaped. "You? Of course I can! You're even more girly than that Fuji dude!"

"Kurosawa!" Kawada Gakuen's coach was yelling to the boy. "You can't play! You're not even on the –" He trailed off, realizing that the boy was ignoring him as well.

Kurosawa snorted. "Baka. You shouldn't judge people by the way they look. Plus, Fuji didn't play with his all." Without waiting for a reply, he served the ball. Nao returned it and they began rallying. Suddenly, Nao hit a hadokyuu.

"Ne ne ne, do you really think I'll fall for that? Try this." Kurosawa brought his racket to his face and blocked the ball. He returned it and Nao ran towards the ball. The ball swiftly swept up in front of Nao's face and out of the stadium. Tezuka nodded his head and said, "Hakugei."

"Ne, baka!" He turned his head in Tezuka's general direction, eyes leaving the ball. "It's not Hakugei." The ball seemed to instantly appear and hit the court. "It's Hana Arashi." After bouncing off the court, the ball hit the unsuspecting Nao in the head. It spun quickly and seemed to dig deeper into his head. Nao screamed in pain and the ball continued to spin deeper. At the scream, Kurosawa turned around and chuckled. "I hate anyone who uses tennis as violence, but in this case, I'll be a hypocrite." He looked straight at Nao as the sun glinted off his eyes, creating a cat-like gleam.

"Ne, baka. If I were you, I would fall face forward. Unless, of course, you want the ball to reach your skull." Nao promptly fell face down and blacked out from the pain. The ball flew straight towards Kurosawa who caught it in the space between the racket and the handle. It bounced lightly, and Kurosawa reached out with his left hand and caught it. Smirking, he walked towards the unconscious Fuji and gently placed his racket beside him. Then he landed on the ground, rear-end first. Kawamura let out a breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding as all the warmth suddenly seemed to rush back into the stadium.

"Where am I? Why am I here?" Kurosawa looked up at the faces of the stunned players and spectators with a face that suggested that if things didn't start making since soon, he'd be sick.

"Hm. Looks familiar." Kawamura glanced at Ryoma, who had proceeded to lean back and stare up at the sky, frowning a bit. It was conspicuous. Everyone else was focused on the court.

* * *

Frankly, Ren was mystified. One moment, Fuji was playing with the same ease Tezuka had displayed (perhaps more, as he seemed to have been playing with his eyes closed. Ren had actually been considering coming to see both of their games regularly), and then the next moment a tennis player had knocked out Sachiko-chan's "Fuji-sama" and someone who… wasn't even a teammate of his just chose to walk up to the court and thrash the offender. Very soundly. And then said person who wasn't even a teammate of "Fuji-sama's" proceeded to forget everything he had done in the past twenty minutes. 

Frowning at the court, she foolishly loosened her grip on her friend, who took the opportunity to dash up onto the court, sobbing a chorus of 'Fuji-sama's as she did. Ren blinked, immediately rationalized that she would have let go anyways – for all her superficiality, Sachiko was a lot stronger than Ren was – and then realized that she should probably go up and reason with her friend. She sprinted up onto the court which was now in uproar thanks to Sachiko's persistence in interjecting.

"Ah, I'm sorry," she told the people at the door, who looked at her in a daze, already having been plowed over by Sachiko. "My friend can be a bit overly enthusiastic sometimes…" They didn't seem to notice, but the schoolgirl told each one of them anyway, hoping to at least sound civil.

She was stepping down onto the court now, and feeling the sheer amount of eyes that had to be watching her now. She agreed with what they were probably thinking wholeheartedly – a random schoolgirl had no place on a tennis court in the middle of a game, especially one who had the tennis-playing ability of a flea. But special situations called for special actions, and thus she chose to ignore her own sensibilities. Sachiko was making a bit of a fool of herself right now – she had blown right past a boy that seemed to be just as dazed as the others she'd passed, and practically tackled the unconscious tennis player on the ground (Fuji, not Nao, she clarified mentally).

"Fuji-sama! Are you all right? Are you alive?"

"Ah, I'm very sorry, Sachiko-chan's a bit overly enthusiastic sometimes…" Ren told the boy standing to her left – the one that Sachiko had brushed past – her eyes trained on the ground in order to avoid the stares of the crowd and only the general direction of her gaze indicating who she was speaking to. He turned around to face her, rather slowly, and she slapped herself internally for her lack of courtesy. The dark-haired girl slowly lifted her gaze, a small smile on her face in apology. She could see the black uniform, the badge on the right side of the boy's shirt that labeled him a student at Kawada Gakuen, the same school as Fuji Shusuke attended, the tips of his chocolate-brown hair that ended just beneath his chin, and she was almost at his face…

"…Eh?"

Ren's eyes locked with the Kawagaku student's as she forgot about courtesy entirely. Her smile slowly faded away and became a light frown. The boy was unusually feminine, pale-skinned with delicate facial structure not unlike Ren's own, but what truly captured Ren's attention were his eyes.

Ren had been complimented on her eyes before. Slanted eyes weren't uncommon, as she did live in eastern Asia, but eyes so large and perfectly almond-shaped even after the face had lengthened and become properly angular were. Her mother had told her once in a fit of nostalgia that her mother (Ren's grandmother) had been famous for those eyes when she was younger, earning her the pet name of "Neko-chan", and Ren's mother herself had the same cat's eyes, large and round and slanted. Looking into this boy's eyes was almost like looking into a mirror, and Ren was surprised to see them.

"Hoi, hoi, looks like Fuji's up!" A voice behind the cat-eyed boy spoke, and Ren glanced upwards towards the stands to see the boy she had previously identified as Kikumaru Eiji before taking note of his words and turning her attention back to Sachiko and her beloved "Fuji-sama". Fuji's eyes were wide open for a fraction of a second, and Ren caught a glimmer of brilliant sapphire blue before they shut again into a friendly smile and he sat up.

"Sachiko-chan, we have to get off the tennis court. We're interrupting a game," Ren kneeled down and whispered into her friend's ear, hoping this would be enough to satiate her.

"But Fuji-sama's here," Sachiko answered persistently, and Ren sighed in response.

"If you keep making a scene like this, the whole world will think you're a raving lunatic, Sachiko-chan. There will be more tennis games where you can watch Fuji-sama, okay?" Sachiko nodded slowly, reluctantly, and Ren held back a sigh of relief.

"I'm very sorry for the trouble," she told Fuji, who had turned his head in the direction of his former teammates, not looking much bothered at all.

"It's okay," he replied in an unexpectedly light voice, eyes still not visible. "This could be interesting."

Pondering what on earth the tennis genius might have met, Ren tugged on Sachiko's arm, said goodbye, and made her way out of the stadium, friend in tow.

* * *

Fuji looked up at a blinking Kikumaru. Eiji didn't really shut up much, so it was a bit surprising to see him stunned for a moment. He followed Eiji's gaze and found himself looking at the dark-haired girl who apologized for her friend, Sachiko. Intrigued, he turned back to see Eiji nudge Oishi in the side and whisper something. 

They weren't being much more open about this, but he'd find out later. For the time being, Fuji turned his attention back to the court. Nao had somehow fainted and was being carried to the stands for medical aid. This was interesting.

"Hey, what happened?"

Someone in front of him twisted around and looked down at him. It was Kurosawa.

"What's going on? Why am I standing here? Why is that guy unconscious?" Fuji stared at her.

"I don't know. I was unconscious as well."

"Really? Oh yeah, I remember now. You were knocked unconscious by that dude. But I forget what happened after that."

Momoshiro seemed to have heard him from the stands.

"Hey, do you remember anything? It was you who knocked him out!"

Kurosawa shook his head.

"I don't remember. How could I have knocked him out?"

He looked around to see everyone gaping at him.

"Are you kidding me?" Everyone said in unison. Just then, the captain of Teigaku, Yamaguchi Akira, angrily stormed up to Kurosawa.

"Oi! I'll kill you, you meddlesome brat!"

He swung his racket, but fortunately Kurosawa managed to grab the racket before it hit him. Fuji shivered involuntarily and watched, interested.

"That aura," Oishi was saying up in the stands. "It's just like before. Is he like Kawamura?"

Yamaguchi looked slightly frightened. Kurosawa lifted up his head and sneered.

"Ne, baka, watch where you swing that racket. I _am_ on the boxing team, and I'm not afraid to use my fists if I need to."

Akira wrenched his racket from Kurosawa's grip and stumbled backward. Almost immediately, the deathly aura vanished and Kurosawa stood looking confused again. He looked at the scared Akira and then at Fuji. He scratched his head and laughed.

"Guess I have short term memory loss, ne?" As he walked away, he felt all eyes watching him. It made him somewhat uncomfortable and he looked down and quickened his pace.

"Eh?" Kurosawa looked up and jerked in surprise. A girl was standing in front of him, running her hand through her hair in what Fuji decided was probably a nervous gesture.

_Hm, _Fuji decided. _This Kurosawa is an interesting character._


	2. In Which People Meet Other People

**Continuation**

**Chapter One**

"Eiji, what exactly are you doing?"

The auburn-haired acrobat pivoted swiftly on his left foot, settling the palm of the same hand on the back of his neck and grinning cheekily at his friend, as if he were trying (how hard, who knew?) to look innocent and failing very miserably. His right foot was in the air, and he was still walking in the same direction as before, albeit backwards now. His longtime friend and tennis partner shook his head.

"You're trying to find that girl, aren't you?"

"Yup!" Kikumaru responded, still grinning from ear to ear, and executing a quick low back flip right outside the door to class 1-A. Oishi sighed and covered his eyes with his hand, wishing already that he hadn't brought to Eiji's attention the fact that the girl Kikumaru was interested in – Aikawa, her name was? – had been wearing the girls' uniform for Nekoboushi Gakuen. Eiji had taken the idea and run with it, and now they were quite literally walking down the hallways right before club activities would start, searching for a glimpse of the girl that had walked onto the tennis courts just yesterday.

"Why are you looking for her anyway? How do you know her – Eiji, we're going to be late for club activities, let's go!" At Oishi's last two words, Kikumaru had already started running forwards in the direction of the tennis courts at the back of the school, shooting a backwards glance at his doubles partner, still grinning.

"Hoi, hoi, nya!"

"Argh, Eiji, you're going to give me a heart attack someday…" Oishi grumbled as he started sprinting to catch up.

They arrived at the tennis courts barely breathing hard and just barely on time, catching the eyes of a few senior members.

" – match tomorrow against Otaki Gakuen. We have to be prepared – they have a new first-year, Inui Sadaharu, one of the former Seigaku regulars. He's bound to know and tell his team everything about you two –" Here the captain paused and turned his gaze to the pair that had just arrived – "So we'll have to drop you two from the lineup for the game, even if you are national-level. Instead we'll have Yamada and Dai playing doubles two, and Ichikawa and Kato playing doubles one. For singles –" Oishi was listening to the captain, Nakagata Takahiro, pretty intently, but once Kikumaru had heard he and Oishi had been dropped from the lineup, his attention had started wandering immediately. That butterfly was an interesting shade of blue. There was an unusually large amount of people in the stands for an ordinary training meeting, unless they were just here to see who was going out for the tennis team. His nose itched, so he raised a finger and scratched it. There was a group of girls sitting in the top right-hand corner. One of them actually looked a bit like Fuji, even. He started to muffle a chortle, then stopped laughing outright, his eyes widening curiously as he noticed the girl on the bottom-right.

Whatwashername. Aikawa.

"- I'll be going easy on you today. So now, I want you all to run five laps. Then all new members will pair up and start practicing their forehand swings, while veterans will be playing practice matches. Ready, GO!"

Kikumaru sighed. Nakagata-senpai was beginning to sound like Tezuka already.

He and Oishi did their five laps without complaint, having done many times this for Tezuka. One particularly memorable event was after they had that argument before the Kantou tournament, and Tezuka had made them run fifty laps. It had been a nightmare at the time, but it really came in handy now. The forehand swings were a bit more irritating – required a bit more thought – but otherwise easy as well.

"It's like being a first-year at Seigaku again, nya," he commented to Oishi, who was deep in concentration. Oishi didn't answer for a moment, instead muttering what sounded like "ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred" under his breath before putting his racket down.

"We _are_ first-years again, Eiji. Are you finished yet?"

"Three more, nya. See? Done!" He shrugged and started to put down his racket as well when he saw a shadow looming over him.

"Done with your one hundred forehand swings? Now do the same, with your backhand." It was Nakagata, bearing nothing but bad news. Kikumaru rolled his eyes only to receive a glare from Oishi and started practicing backhand swings.

Practice ended after what seemed like an eternity, and by the time Kikumaru thought to look back at the stands, everyone was gone.

* * *

Fuji was looking for that mysterious, confused boy. He had no idea why he was looking for him, but something inside side of him drove him forward. Maybe it was because Kurosawa had proved to be interesting, and Fuji was always interested in seeing interesting things. 

Either way, the school day was ending and Fuji had to go to practice soon. He tried to be discreet about his search, but many girls walked up to him giggling, asking if he lost anything. He always replied that he was looking for his teacher, and they always led him to his teacher.

Eventually, he gave up his search. Of course, exactly once he'd decided that he'd stop looking because it was a pointless task and there was no good reason for him to bother, he remembered Kurosawa saying that he was on the boxing team. Jogging to the gym, he remembered that Kurosawa was also in the newspaper club. _Hm…__This is rather inconvenient, _Fuji thought._ Why is he in so many clubs?_ He reached the gym where the boxing team practiced and looked in. Kurosawa was nowhere in sight. Fuji left and went to the computer room where the newspaper club met. No sign. By now, Fuji realized he had to go to tennis practice so he jogged to the tennis courts. He changed in the locker rooms and walked out onto the courts. Kawada Gakuen was, for lack of a better word, rich, and each of the fifteen tennis courts was in top shape. He entered one and walked to his captain. "Teichou. Gomen ne. I'm a little late." The captain, Suzuki Uchi, turned to him and smiled.

"It's all right, just try to come in on time after this."

"Hai. It won't happen again." Fuji walked away and got his tennis things ready. While bending down to pick up a ball, someone's stomach hit Fuji's head.

"Ouch!" said a voice. Fuji looked up. _Brown hair, _he thought. _Shorter than I am, big eyes.__Yes, it's him. _

"Kurosawa? Pardon me, but what exactly are you doing here?" Kurosawa stared at him, then smiled a wide, blank grin.

"Ne, that captain dragged me here. He wants me to play on the team, but I told him I didn't know how to play. So now I'm picking up tennis balls. I didn't really notice you bending down, so I bumped into you. Sorry."

"Kurosawa," Fuji tried, recalling a memory of Momoshiro shouting what may or may not have been nonsense. Momoshiro didn't tell outright lies especially often – it didn't mesh well with his boy-next-door personality. "Suzuki-teichou doesn't seem the sort to recruit complete novices on a whim. Chances are you probably do know how to play." Kurosawa rolled his eyes in exasperation, throwing his hands into the air.

"No, I don't! Why do people keep on telling me I do?" Fuji lent the memory a second glance, re-analyzed Momoshiro's character, and decided _excellent_, this _was_ interesting.

"Kurosawa-kun," he asked, gathering an idea of what direction he might be headed in. "Do you remember where you went to middle school now?"

"Anou… I asked my aunt and she just sighed and went to work." Fuji smiled and nodded in a way that many of his friends had accused of being irritatingly opaque.

"It seems a strange sort of thing to forget, doesn't it?" Kurosawa bristled.

"Are you suggesting that I have… amnesia or something?" He let the question hang, and Fuji didn't respond. "Oh," Kurosawa decided after a moment's relative silence. "This is stupid. Why would I have amnesia?"

"Just a suggestion." Fuji adjusted his smile without actually doing so, or maybe just in some infinitesimal way that the naked eye could not hope to catch. "Ne, Kurosawa-kun, two of my friends' schools are going to play a match tomorrow. Want to come with me? All my other Seigaku friends are coming. You can meet them."

"Hai! I'll come. I would love to meet your friends, they seem so cool!" Kurosawa was all smiles again, and Fuji noticed offhand that Kurosawa dimpled in a way that seemed slightly off. Then again, near everything Kurosawa did seemed to hint at something off, and if Fuji took the time to analyze every little bit of it he'd never be finished.

"Oi, Fuji!" Suzuki-teichou shouted from across the courts," I let you off for being late, and you take advantage of it by chatting with Kurosawa-kun? Get over here and practice! And you, Kurosawa, grab that racket over there." Fuji nodded and grinned at Suzuki, who winked back. Ignorant of whatever Suzuki might have been plotting, Kurosawa shrugged good-naturedly and picked up the racket that lay close by.

The air took on a strange, familiar chill. Fuji turned to Kurosawa, placid smile firmly in place.

"Practice?"

"Let's go."

* * *

Nekogaku's tennis team, Ren had just been rather abruptly informed, was very good. Which, in hindsight, explained what both Kikumaru Eiji and Oishi Shuichiro, the former Golden Pair of Seigaku, were doing wearing uniforms for this very school, but when a whole gaggle of girls from all three years had swept over to the tennis courts and somehow managed to keep her in their midst, she had felt nothing but puzzled. The girls made their way up into the stands, filling up the middle rows quickly (a tactic to make them look interested, but not overly interested, Ren supposed... they did all seem to share a bit of a minor obsession with the opposite gender), leaving one row at the bottom and one at the top. Ren stepped up into the seat nearest her (bottom, right) and sat down. She, presumably like most of the girls here, wasn't in any clubs as of yet and had time to spend, but she had been considering sitting in on the band when Sachiko had come and pulled her in. 

The boys' tennis club wasn't doing anything especially interesting today – just basic training for the first-years, and Ren tilted her head back to ask Sachiko what exactly they were doing there.

"Ne, Sachiko-chan, if we're interested in the tennis club, shouldn't we be watching the girls?"

Sachiko, still a bit miffed at Ren for essentially dragging her off the tennis courts, simply rolled her eyes as if the question could be nothing but rhetorical, then squealed a bit as Kikumaru lent the group a passing glance. Ren thought she could see his eyes widen just before he turned back to face the captain, but she assumed that it wasn't because of her (they hadn't seen each other in six years, and they hadn't been _that_ close) and sighed a bit.

After seeing that the tennis club wasn't really doing anything especially interesting for the day, Ren slipped out of the stands to get her books. Her teachers had assigned an inordinate amount of homework already, even though it was only the second week of school and she wasn't even in class A, and she had a violin lesson today. She slipped her math book out of her backpack, opened it up to page twenty-nine, and began her homework.

Time ticked by, and the pile of books next to Ren grew larger and larger. She had just laid her composition book down and looked up at the clock when she realized that class was ending in two minutes and she would have to hurry to get back home to get her violin and then go to her teacher's house for her lesson. Taking her time anyways with her books – crumpling them this early in the year would do nothing for her – she made her way towards the large throng at the gate. Tentatively, she tapped one boy on the shoulder to ask if she could please go through, she was going to be late to a lesson otherwise, and was greeted with a snarl saying that he was late too, wasn't everyone?

There was a disturbance nearer the center of the crowd. Ren turned her head to see what was going on, and was met with the sight of Kikumaru Eiji running forward and… jumping over the gate.

He always had been exceptionally coordinated.

A whole group of people had parted so he could land safely, and Ren as well as a boy with a crew cut came running to fill the gap quickly before someone else did. She had just gotten out the gate when Kikumaru Eiji tapped her on the shoulder.

"Ne, how do I know Aikawa-chan, nya?"

She stopped running and panted, out of breath. Oishi, who had gotten in front of them both was muttering something that sounded remotely like "doesn't even know how he knows…" and she wrung her hands frantically.

"Eh… our parents were friends, I think. I'm going to be late, so I…" She looked up at the clock, then clapped a hand over her forehead. "Oops, I got the time wrong. Never mind, I have an hour. Anyways, why do you ask?"

"That was it? Oh, I dunno why I asked. Felt like it, nya." Kikumaru stretched and Ren half expected him to sprout whiskers and a tail. If her eyes were said to be catlike, then the same could be said for Kikumaru's entire being. "There's a picture of Ren-chan on the fireplace next to the teddy bear in my house. I thought you looked familiar after I saw you at the game, nya, so I wanted to ask you."

"Why, Eiji, didn't you ask your parents?" Oishi had come closer, and was now looking a bit irritated.

"Nya?" Kikumaru asked, tilting his head to the side. "That's a good idea, Oishi… I forgot I could do that, nya. Anyways, Ren-chan" – like that, his attention was given back to the girl again – "Did you like the tennis match? What did you think of Tezuka-buchou and Fuji? Do you watch tennis much now? Do you like it? Your friend's sort of funny…" He bombarded her with questions and she blinked, slightly overwhelmed.

"Ah… yes, they're very good, not really, I think so, and I agree…? Ne, Kikumaru-kun, why are you asking me all this?"

"Nya? Because you're my friend, right, Ren-chan? Don't call me Kikumaru-kun, nya, it makes me think you're talking to my brother. You know my name..."

"Oi, Eiji!" Oishi finally interjected after standing and looking more and more frustrated by the moment. "We have to go now! We're meeting Fuji, Tezuka, and Inui to eat, remember? Let's go, already!"

"Nanjaro hoi hoi! See ya, Ren-chan!" Eiji responded, quick as a flash, and sprinted off in the opposite direction of the one she was headed in, and Oishi sprinted after him. It wasn't long before they had taken a sharp turn (Kikumaru had actually run right past it, and Oishi had been forced to grab him and physically turn him in the right direction) and become hidden from view.

* * *

"Uwaah!" Kurosawa groaned, satisfied, and stretched himself out farther than Fuji had known people not named Kikumaru Eiji (or Gakuto Mukahi) could stretch. "That was a good match! Maybe I'll even beat you next time," he chuckled, a smirk crawling its way onto his face. A corner of Fuji's mouth jerked upwards, and he walked casually around to the other side of the court. 

"You know," he informed Kurosawa, "Your personality is much better without that racket." He carefully grasped the racket and pulled it from Kurosawa's hands.

The cocky, amused look left Kurosawa's eyes.

Then he fell promptly on his posterior.

"Wah! Why am I so tired?" Fuji chuckled at the sudden shift in mood, and paused on his way to the locker room.

"Ne, I'm going to be meeting some of my friends from Seigaku for dinner. Want to come?"

Watching Kurosawa's face, Fuji decided, was at least as interesting as any movie. "Eh, I'm so sorry!" First, his eyes widened almost theatrically, then his gaze flicked down to his hands, as if wondering what to do with them before he bent down in a hasty bow. "I have to go home and type up my article for the newspaper club! Really, I'm sorry!" And with that, he ran. Fuji tilted his head to the side.

"Ah, well," he told the now-empty tennis court, "It would have been interesting to see how Tezuka would have reacted to his presence. Momoshiro _did_ tell me Kurosawa called him an idiot."

Echizen served one last ball to Momoshiro before swiping his baseball cap off his sweat-soaked hair and turning around to leave.

"Hey!" Momoshiro called from behind, and Echizen looked back over his shoulder.

"What?" he asked dispassionately.

"First, did I tell you we were done?"

"No."

"Then why – oh, who cares? Anyways, do you have a lot of work, or do you want to go out to eat?"

Echizen shrugged. Momoshiro decided to consider that an affirmation.

"All right, then," he told his kohai. "My treat."

"No."

"…Why not?"

"Remember last time you offered to pay?"

Momoshiro shuddered. Some things were too humiliating to be remembered.

"Oh. Yeah. I remember. Okay, then. Want to take anyone else?"

Ryoma glanced over at where Kaidoh had essentially been put in charge of training the non-veteran regulars ("If you'd like to work on technique, line up next to Kaidoh here and he'll give you pointers!" Momoshiro had received a healthy death glare in return for that) and shrugged. "If you want to."

"All right, then," Momoshiro decided, friendly nature trumping over inherent dislike.

"Oi, Viper! Wanna go to eat with us?"

Kaidoh looked over, his glaring face covered in sweat.

"No."

"Why not?"

"You're going."

"That's why? What kind of a reason is that?"

"A good one." Momoshiro didn't answer promptly, and was fumbling about for an answer when Kaidoh surprised him.

"Actually, I'll go. I've got nothing to do today anyways."

"Can we just go already, then?" Echizen butted in before Momoshiro could reply. "It's getting late."

They forgot about the group of panting, terrified lower-ranked members of the tennis club and left.

"Welcome to Kawamura -" Kawamura greeted the group as they walked in the door, and then reconsidered his words. "Ah, Ryoma, Momoshiro, Kaidoh! What a coincidence!"

After much argument, they'd finally decided by consensus to go to Kawamura Sushi, since they kind of wanted sushi and hoped to be able to get to see Kawamura. Either way, none of them were exactly in the best of moods.

Momoshiro responded to Kawamura's exclamation with a polite "Hello, Kawamura-senpai!", but he was the only one to do so. Kaidoh had grunted "What a coincidence?" while Ryoma had simply cast a weary glance at the only other people in the restaurant. Simply because he didn't feel especially inclined to listen to Kaidoh, Momoshiro followed Echizen's gaze and let his jaw fall until he was certain it would hit the ground.

"Fuji, Buchou, Inui, Eiji, Oishi! What are you guys doing here?" he asked, just in time to coincide with Eiji asking the same of him.

"Well, we wanted to go someplace to eat, but we couldn't decide, so we decided to come here and see Kawamura-senpai also. But we didn't expect you guys to come!" Eiji clapped his hands together once and hooted. "It's a reunion! Let's P-A-R-T-Y!" They sat down together at the bar.

Oishi nudged Fuji. "Ah, you were saying about the game last Saturday…?"

"My Teichou told me not to exert myself too early in the season. You did notice that my three counters were basic, didn't you?"

Tezuka nodded in agreement. "Same with me."

"And the wrist and ankle weights?"

"Those, too."

Perhaps one year ago, this would have surprised people, but the group present at this moment was far too jaded. Therefore, all they received in reaction was a chuckle from Ryoma.

"How typical of Fuji and Teichou," he muttered.

Eiji bounced in his seat. "Nya! I almost forgot to ask! Tezuka, how is it not being teichou anymore?" Tezuka glared over his glasses, sending Eiji scrambling behind Oishi.

"It's okay."

"Nya! Scary!" If Eiji was a cat, his back hair would have been sticking up. Oishi petted him on the head.

"Hey," Momoshiro interrupted, trying to diffuse the tension. Did anything interesting happen with you high-schoolers recently? Besides tennis, I mean…" Kikumaru snuck back out tentatively from behind Oishi's back and opened his mouth to talk, but Oishi had already cleared his throat and begun speaking.

"Eiji was a bit of an idiot today. Spent all our free time looking for this girl, and it turns out he didn't even remember how he knew her. We could have started on our homework or something! Even C class has loads more than I had in B class at Seigaku!"

"HEY! I told you, she's in a picture on the fireplace under the stuffed bear in my house, nya!" Kikumaru butted in before anyone else had a chance to reply.

Echizen snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Ah, Eiji-san… Why is she in a picture on the fireplace underneath the stuffed bear in your house?" Kawamura asked a bit timidly, scratching his temple with his left pointer finger.

"…What did she say again, nya?" Kikumaru elbowed Oishi, frowning. "I don't think I remember…" Kikumaru's longtime doubles partner sighed long-sufferingly, buried his face in his hands, and shut his eyes.

"Your parents were friends, she thinks, Eiji."

"Ah ha um…" Momoshiro was rubbing the back of his head and grinning sheepishly now, casting around for a way to change the subject. Oishi seemed to be getting irritated at Kikumaru, and he didn't want the Golden Pair to get into a fight again. The last time had been pretty ugly, after all. "Echizen, how did it go with Ryuzaki-chan today?"

Ryoma's left eyebrow twitched a bit, and he turned away. Momoshiro blinked and tried valiantly to fight away the silence descending upon the table.

"Uh… Kawamura, how was school?"

"It was okay, though we didn't learn too much about sushi today…"

As much as Momoshiro would have loved to let the conversation digress into talk of sushi, he had a feeling that the rest of his former teammates would end up tuning out and turning to their own thoughts, and that it might help revive the Kikumaru – Oishi argument, which he didn't want. So he turned to the person next to him, interrupting a lecture Kawamura was giving on the importance of using the proper knife to cut the seaweed for sushi.

"And, how was your day, Tezuka-senpai?"

He received a glare in response, and, slightly frightened, moved on to Fuji.

"Fuji-senpai?" He asked, hoping that it wouldn't get any more awkward than it already was. He snuck a sidelong glance at Kaidoh and was irritated to find him simply leaning against the counter, not awkward at all. Busy keeping himself from tackling Kaidoh – it was a bad idea in Kawamura's restaurant, anyways – he missed Fuji's answer.

"Eh?"

"It was interesting," Fuji repeated, eyes closed in his customary mild expression.

"Ah, what happened?" Momoshiro asked, seizing the thread of conversation and tugging on it as hard as he could.

Ten minutes later, he was wishing he hadn't.

Apparently Fuji's day had begun with being assaulted by worried fangirls on the way to school, which he had to push his way through to make it to class, only to be questioned about his health by half the girls in his class, a good deal of the boys, and every single teacher. They took tennis very seriously at Kawada Gakuen.

After class, Fuji had seen the boy from the Teishu Gakuen – Kawada Gakuen match with the tennis club, picking up balls and claiming he didn't know how to play tennis, after which he proceeded to pick up a racket and challenge Fuji to a practice match. Fuji beat him, of course. Then this boy – Kurosawa Sakuya, Fuji said his name was - chose to forget everything from the moment he had picked up the racket, and acted confused as ever. Fuji, interested, had invited him to the game between Eiji and Oishi-senpais' and Inui-senpai's school tomorrow.

Here Momoshiro had to question Fuji.

"Why? You don't even know the dude, really."

Fuji, who was _still_ smiling in that way of his, replied far too vaguely.

"It could be interesting."

Momoshiro did an internal face-vault and started wondering exactly what Fuji-senpai thought was interesting.

Silence descended upon the group yet again, and Tezuka had taken the chance to look out the window.

"It's getting dark out. We should work on our schoolwork."

And with that he made his way out the door, and eventually everyone but Kawamura followed.

* * *

Kurosawa ran until he reached his apartment, at which point he plopped down on the first sofa he found. He was greeted with a slap to the face. 

"Why on earth don't you come home from school earlier? At least _tell _me when you're going to be home late!"

Kurosawa grinned. "Hi, Obachan." No sooner did she finish speaking than the woman's hand hit her face again.

"What did I tell you about calling me Obachan? My name is Yuki. Therefore, you call me Yuki-chan!"

"Hai, Yuki-obachan." Hand hit face.

"Will you _ever_ listen to me?"

"I always do. I just like listening to you get upset about stupid things." Kurosawa grinned innocently, and his aunt Yuki sighed. Kurosawa envied Yuki. She was thirty, and she looked no older than twenty, with a face and body to make any girl in Kurosawa's school jealous.

"Why did this happen?" Yuki was asking the ceiling. "Why am I left with such an annoying child? Her mother's in China with her father. Why am I still here? I should just leave you and go to Hawaii or Paris," she finished, completely dropping the pretense of asking the ceiling and instead speaking directly to her niece.

"You should!" Kurosawa replied, grinning. "I'll be totally fine without you! I'm your little angel, after all."

"Oh, shut up!"

"Ne ne ne!" Kurosawa teased his aunt. "You don't say 'shut up' to your little angel!" At this point, the pretense finally became too much to bear and the two of them burst out into laughter.

The laughter dissipated after a few minutes, and Kurosawa leaned back against the couch, feeling tired.

"Ne, Yuki-chan, what middle school did I go to?" Yuki glanced at Sakura, a frown creasing her otherwise wrinkle-free brow.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, you see, I was at tennis practice and this guy asked me –"

"Oh, you're on the tennis team now? Good for you!" Yuki hugged Kurosawa so tightly he wasn't quite sure he could breathe, and as a result he had to stammer out his next words.

"B-b-but I don't have any idea how to _play _tennis!"

"Baka. I'll tell you that before the accident, you were very good at tennis. Anyways, I have to go to my night job. You take care of yourself, all right, Sakura? Ja ne!"

Sighing, Kurosawa Sakura slipped the wig off her head, undid the bun the majority of her hair was in, and unclipped her bangs. She really hated when people avoided answering her questions.


	3. In Which Inui Makes a New Juice

**Continuation **

**Chapter Two **

"Why, why, why, why, _why_?" Sakura grudgingly followed her aunt. "Yuki-chan, why do I have to go?"

Yuki spun around, " Fuji is well known tennis player. It's a good thing he invited you to the tennis match between two of his friends' schools."

Sakura groaned, "I don't want to, I'm tired. Plus, it's not like it's a date or something, or like it's me making an good marriage. Why are you so worked up about it?"

Yuki smacked Sakura on the head. "We're almost there. From here on, you are Kurosawa Sakuya and you will use the male speech. This is good for you because these guys can help you play tennis better."

"Yes, Yuki-obachan." At this, Yuki turned and smacked Sakura on the head again.

"What did I tell you…" Yuki stopped suddenly to gape at a point somewhere behind Sakura's head. Sakura turned. Behind her stood a brown haired teenage boy who smiled at them like he was watching a carnival show.

"Ne! Fuji!" _What are you doing here_ was the first thing that popped into her head, but she rejected that idea. Of course he was here. He was the one that invited her.

Yuki raised an eyebrow. "That's Fuji? He's pretty hot."

Sakura whirled around to face her aunt. "Yuki-chan, you're like fifteen years older than him!"

"All right, all right, no need to rub it in." Yuki left to go, but not before bending down and whispering in Sakura's ear.

"Lucky girl, huh?" Sakura reddened and glared before turning her attention to the people that were… probably watching all of that. She cursed internally, then braced herself for the firing squad.

Fuji smiled at her in that… Fuji-like way of his, and she stiffened.

"Hello, Kurosawa. You're just in time for the match."

* * *

The match itself took longer than the first one of the year – the one between Kawada Gakuen and Teishu Gakuen - had. By the end of everything, Otaki Gakuen had won. The teams had tied in the first few games, but Inui's opponent for the tiebreaker couldn't defeat his data tennis. Nekoboushi Gakuen didn't seem worried, though. After all, their Golden Pair hadn't played in the match, and they were probably fully capable of winning the Doubles 2 match. Sakura stood silently, reddening internally at the fact that she was standing next to far more unusually hot boys than she was used to. Another side of her was calm, though, taking in all she could about tennis. 

The game had seemed to take hours to end. Sakura wasn't sure why, as she thought it went by quickly enough. It just felt _long_. After it was over, Eiji, Oishi, and Inui went up to them.

Or rather, Eiji flipped up, Oishi ran up after Eiji, and Inui calmly plodded up the steps to meet his friends.

Eiji got there first. "Hey, is this the Kurosawa Sakuya that was at Fuji's match?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, that's me. And you are… Kikumaru?"

"Eiji, otherwise I think you're talking about my brother. That guy with the weird hair is Oishi, and the guy with the glasses is Inui."

Oishi glanced at Eiji. "Eiji, I don't think I have weird hair..."

"Well, compared to everyone else you have weird hair."

"It's not that different from Kippei Tachibana's."

"But you have those weird bangs."

Tezuka stepped in tiredly. "Enough. Oishi's hair is fine, all right? Now stop arguing before I make you run laps. "

Kurosawa tilted his head. "Hey, idiot, you can't make them do that. It's not like you're their captain or anything."

Tezuka turned slowly towards Sakura. Eiji cowered.

"Did you just call me an idiot?"

"Yup! Got a problem with that, Baka? From now on I'll call you Baka-kun!"

"I could make you run laps."

"No."

"Twenty laps around the court, right now."

"No."

"Yes, you will."

"No, I won't."

"Forty laps, then."

"Nope! Not gonna do it."

"I could find a way to force you to run them."

"Oh yeah? How?"

"Inui?"

Eiji was truly, honestly cowering as Inui pushed his glasses up his nose. Sakura could swear they were _gleaming_.

"I did recently come up with a new flavor of Inui Juice," Inui replied.

"Well then -" Tezuka stopped, and the rest of the group held its breath. "Oh, hello."

"Ren-chan!" Eiji bounded up to a somewhat confused Aikawa Ren and hugged her.

"Ah, hello Eiji. I was going to watch the match, but it seems like I came too late."

"Nope! You didn't. You actually came at the perfect time." He bent down to whisper into her ear. "If you hadn't come, Inui might have revealed the most horrible juice in the world!"

Ren blinked. "And you would actually know this?"

The moment was now thoroughly awkward.

"Ah… Let's go eat somewhere!" Oishi said hastily, trying to get them to do something before the atmosphere spiraled downwards again.

Momoshiro agreed, apparently. "Yeah, let's go do our bonding someplace else! I'm hungry."

Ryoma looked at everyone and said calmly, "Mada mada dane."

Ren blinked. "Um… Did that have any particular relevance?"

Tezuka shrugged and started walking out of the tennis court.

* * *

"So Kawamura-san's father owns this place?" Ren asked politely, taking a sip from her glass of water. 

"Yeah, we come here all the time! They have some really good sushi here!" Kikumaru answered, swiftly grabbing the last piece of Anago before Echizen and Momoshiro could wolf it  
down. He received two angry glares in reply before the pair turned back to stuffing themselves silly. Oishi, who had already decided he had eaten enough, chuckled at this, and Kikumaru, watching the middle-schoolers eat, finally gave up trying to extract any more sushi from that table and turned to the one where Fuji, Kawamura, Kurosawa, and Aikawa were sitting. Maybe there would be something edible here.

He found himself in luck, as the tray of makizushi, while filled with its usual assortment of wasabi rolls, also included plenty of other flavors this time. Kikumaru dove in and picked off a tuna roll, eliciting a glare that Kurosawa didn't quite pull off properly, and no change in Fuji's expression. Ren simply reached for her glass of water and took another sip.

"Wait, you're eating those wasabi rolls too, nya?" He noticed somewhat belatedly as Kurosawa gulped down some tea and reached for one.

"Yup!" Kurosawa answered cheerily before tossing the piece of sushi into his mouth, causing Fuji to grin amusedly.

"Mmm mmm mmph!" Kurosawa tried to respond this time, causing Fuji to chuckle a bit. The boy that Fuji had earlier dubbed "interesting" swallowed his sushi in a movement that made Kikumaru wince (he must have a stomach of steel!) and washed it down with green tea.

"What's so funny?" He demanded of his schoolmate, who was still wearing the amused smile that drove so many of his opponents on the tennis court mad. Fuji took his time answering, first taking a sip of tea, then setting his cup down gently on the table and sitting back.

"I've noticed that your moods change pretty quickly. At first I thought it was only the effect of touching a tennis racket, like with Kawamura, but you've just proved otherwise." He answered at length. Kurosawa stared blankly in response.

"Ah," Ren said, tilting her head to the side. "I suppose that's plausible."

"Hm?" Kawamura questioned, and Fuji shrugged, still looking placid as ever.

"Don't worry, it's not important."

Over at the table next to them, Echizen and Momoshiro had long since devoured the last of the sushi, and Kaidoh had already turned around and assumed his "I-am-ignoring-the-people-behind-me" pose. Oishi was observing the conversation at the other table interestedly and Inui and Tezuka, at the bar, had both already pulled out what seemed to be physics homework for Monday and had started on it.

"Ne, Echizen, did Ryuzaki-chan make another lunch for you today?" Momoshiro teased his underclassman, trying feebly to breathe some life into the conversation. The still-petite boy in question arched an eyebrow and answered with a curt "Yes."

"And you ate it this time? You didn't watch a tennis game and tell her 'Mada mada dane' and make her run away again, like the last six times?" Momoshiro pressed on excitedly, his voice rising to a high enough volume to catch Kikumaru's attention.

"Ochibi-chan did it again? Some day he's going to absolutely ruin his chances with her, nya! He could have had a cute girlfriend six times over and he's made the same mistake every time!"

"Ne ne? This shorty is that much of a baka?" Kurosawa asked curiously, trying to lean backwards far enough to talk to them only to come up short and shift his entire body over.

"Hai," Momoshiro nodded sagely. "Ryuzaki Sakuno, our coach's granddaughter, has a really big crush on Echizen here. But he's been an idiot and always told her 'Mada mada dane' when she tried to give him a bento. And she's cute, too."

"Baka," Kurosawa fired at Echizen, causing him to bristle.

"Hey, girls are HARD to figure out! How many of you have had a girlfriend?" He snuck a quick glance at Momoshiro, who was about to speak, and silenced him. "Besides you, Momoshiro. Ann doesn't count – she's Tachibana's sister, and plays tennis."

"And Sakuno-chan is Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter! And she plays tennis too!" Momoshiro protested, and Echizen shot him a silencing glare. Momoshiro snorted and rolled his eyes.

Meanwhile, Kikumaru looked at Oishi, who looked at Kawamura, who raised his hands in surrender and looked at Fuji, who smiled benignly in Kaidoh's direction, who glared at Ren.

"…You don't actually expect me to answer that question, do you?" She asked, and Kaidoh's eyes widened as he realized his mistake and quickly turned so he was facing Inui.

"The probability is sixty percent that Tezuka or Fuji would have the easiest time getting a girlfriend, considering the amount of fans they have among the female population," he read from another section of his notebook, only to look up, meet Tezuka's glare, and look back down. "Of course, factoring Tezuka's temperament into play, the probability for him falls down to thirty percent…" He turned to the one boy present that he had no data on.

The restaurant went quiet as everyone looked expectantly at Kurosawa, who gulped.

"I… don't remember?" He answered sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders and flushing crimson.

"Liar!" Kikumaru interjected, poking Kurosawa's right cheek. "You've never had a girlfriend either!"

"Actually," Inui, said, "The probability that Kurosawa-san suffers from either chronic amnesia or short-term memory loss is about eighty-nine point four percent."

Most of the former Seigaku regulars took a moment to absorb this information and translate it into plain Japanese while Fuji and Ren simply looked on comprehendingly in the background.

"So Kurosawa probably isn't actually lying?"

"Uh, yes?" Kurosawa replied, clinging to the excuse. "I really don't remember anything from before this year."

"Well then," Inui answered, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I think I could make a type of Inui juice that acts as a memory-restorative, if I…" He pulled out another notebook and started scribbling notes. All the tennis players in the room sans Kurosawa paled at this suggestion.

"Kurosawa-kun," Momoshiro told him, "Never, under any circumstances, should you willingly drink that stuff. Ever."

"Eh?" Aikawa piped up from the back corner, and Tezuka looked down at her very seriously.

"Inui Juice is too horrible to be properly described with words. Let me just say that if I truly wished to punish someone – "his eyes flicked threateningly towards Kurosawa – "I would make them drink Inui juice. It's far more painful than running a thousand laps."

"Now, it's actually usually pretty good. I recommend – "

" Fuji."

"If you say so, teichou."

"…Ah," Ren finally replied. "I see."

"It can't be that bad," Kurosawa interjected.

"Yes, it can!" Everyone except Fuji, Ren, Kurosawa and Inui shouted.

Inui pushed up his glasses, "However, considering he can eat those wasabi rolls at ease just like Fuji, then Kurosawa has a sixty percent chance of- "

"Blacking out," Eiji interrupted, shuddering involuntarily. "If he's lucky." Poor Eiji had drunk Inui's juice too many times before, and almost feared it more than death.

Kurosawa blinked. "Eh, I'll try it anyways."

_"What?"_ All eyes looked at Kurosawa.

"Are you nuts?" Momoshiro continued. "Why would you voluntarily drink his juice after we _warned_ you about what could happen."

"Leave off, Momoshiro," Tezuka cut in. "It's not our problem if he's stupid to listen to good advice."

Kurosawa turned menacingly towards Tezuka. "Ne! What did you just say? Want to start a fight? Just because I look feminine doesn't mean that I don't fight like a guy!"

Fuji turned to Tezuka, "That's probably true. Kurosawa's on the boxing team at school."

Tezuka glared at Kurosawa, who in turn glared back.

Ren laughed quietly. "Ah, no one said anything about how you look… Look, would you guys please stop?"

Both parties looked at her and stopped glaring, just in time for Inui to materialize

"May I present Inui's Memory Restoration Juice?" Eiji pondered for a moment when Inui had actually disappeared in the first place, then decided that train of thought was unproductive when Inui was brandishing a cup of what looked like sludge of throw up mixed with some type of vegetable. Kurosawa looked at it, "What's in that?"

Oishi drew back from Inui, "Don't ask, it will only make it worse."

Inui gave the cup to Kurosawa who looked at it closely.

"Anou," he said, "Is that a beetle in there?"

Eiji opened his mouth in surprise, then shut it.

"Just kidding."

Everyone slumped back with relief as Kurosawa tilted the cup into his mouth. All stared in amazement as Kurosawa downed the whole cup.

Kawamura looked at him in amazement, "Wow… He drank that whole cup…" Tezuka glared and turned away while the others nearly gagged. Fuji allowed his eyes to widen momentarily before squeezing them shut again in a smile.

Kurosawa put down the cup and announced, "Eh, it's not that bad. But… I don't remember anything."

Inui sighed. "Well, there was only a thirty percent chance the juice would work anyway. I'll have to work on it. I still have some more in this batch, though. Anyone want some?"

"NO WAY!" was the general consensus.

Fuji turned to Inui, "I'll have some, then."


	4. In Which There Are Lost Relatives

**Continuation**

**Chapter Three**

School time again. The Seigaku friends, Ren, and Kurosawa planned to meet together after the next match between Seigaku and St. Rudolf Gakuen. At Kawada Gakuen, Fuji had started to hang out with Kurosawa more often. Ever since the Inui juice incident, Fuji became even more interested in his character. Kurosawa was also interested in Fuji's character. When he saw Fuji down Inui's drink also, he was a little surprised Fuji could hold it. Kurosawa had explained that his aunt made many juices similar to Inui's juice, so he was used to it, but Fuji just said he liked the taste. Anyway, the two became close and practiced tennis whenever Kurosawa had the chance. He, after all, couldn't quit the boxing or newspaper club.

* * *

Eiji had made it a habit of picking Ren up after class every day since she had let slip at Kawamura Sushi that she was in class 1-B and was in no clubs. 

The first day, she had been mildly surprised. Eiji had appeared at the door five minutes before class ended, garnering stares and whispers about what he could possibly be doing there. Sachiko especially had been surprised, if that was the right way to describe her reaction.

"Oh my god, what is KIKUMARU EIJI, part of Nekogaku's first-year Golden Pair, doing waiting outside the door to our class? Do you think he's here to confess his love for someone? That would be so cool!" She told Ren in one of those whispers-that-weren't-really-whispers so that the whole class could hear and draw from those words that Sachiko was definitely hoping it was her.

"Sachiko-chan," Ren told her in a whisper that really wasn't audible to anyone but Sachiko, "I thought you were a Fuji Shusuke fan."

"I am," she replied, still using a stage whisper, "But Eiji-kun is just so CUTE!" Ren blinked a bit at her reply, and almost began to twitch. She did not normally think of her friend in that context – having known him for longer than she remembered and having seen him throw up over the stuffed bear that was probably still on his fireplace mantle had a tendency to do that to people.

The whispering around them had gotten louder and it Ren's ethics teacher, a small woman in very high heels with hair layered stylishly, had started rapping on the board with her pointer.

"All right, I know class is nearly over, but you'll have to bear with me for just a bit longer. Now Hayakawa-chan, can you tell me what one should do in this situation?" Hayakawa Nanami visibly turned her attention away from the door and looked back into her textbook to search for the answer, and the muttering died down a bit.

Five unusually long minutes for everyone later, Ren was packing her books back into her school-approved backpack and had made it a step outside the door when Eiji had accosted her.

"Ren-chan!" He exclaimed, patting her on the back. "I've been waiting for you for hours!"

"It was only five minutes, Eiji," Oishi, who had rather more intelligently concealed himself by standing next to the door as opposed to directly in front of it, told him.

"Oh. Well, it felt like hours, nya."

"My chemistry teacher and his Japanese history teacher both decided to end class early today." Oishi explained. "Eiji wanted to drop in on you, so we stood out here until you got let out. The things he decides to do, sometimes…" He shook his head, as Eiji decided to tug on the sleeve of Ren's blouse and drag her behind him.

"Ah, Eiji-kun, what are you doing?" She asked passively, letting him drag her.

"We're going to the tennis club!"

"But I don't play tennis…"

"So? You can watch us practice, nya!"

"But…"

"You really shouldn't argue," Oishi told her. "It's not going to work."

So Ren gave up and let him drag her to the tennis courts, where she watched them run ten laps, practice their overhead smashes and lobs several hundred times each, and then rally for a short amount of time. Eiji and Oishi were exceptionally good, like she had been told, and Ren found it particularly interesting to watch Eiji dashing to every corner of the court by means of various jumps and contortions that she'd never be able to pull off in her life. Then practice ended and the team was informed that their next game would be next Wednesday, against the high school associated with Midoriyama Gakuen.

"'Course, we're going to go watch the game between Seigaku and St. Rudolf Gakuen," Eiji told her once he was finished. "That's Thursday."

"Ryoma, Kaidoh and Momo will probably be playing," Oishi mused. "Probably Echizen will play Singles 1."

And the three made their way through the crowd at the gate and parted ways.

The second day, Eiji and Oishi did not, thankfully, get out early. But they did come and get her, this time right when she was about to go off in another direction to find an abandoned hallway and do her homework. Eiji latched on to her arm and dragged her to the tennis courts.

But of course, this time she had actually brought her homework and only lifted her head to watch when they had started practice matches. It was Eiji against another doubles player by the name of Yamada Takeshi, and Eiji was winning by a bit, and Oishi was against this Yamada Takeshi's partner, who was named Dai Osamu.

This time after practice, Eiji decided to try teasing her about Tezuka, for some reason.

"Ne, Ren-chan, you're going to see Tezuka-buchou at the game, nya. How do you feel about that?" Oishi opened his mouth, possibly to reprimand Eiji, and Ren stopped him by responding.

"Why would that make me feel any different from normal?" She asked, and Eiji rolled his eyes and looked like he'd decided she was absolutely clueless.

The third day, Ren lagged behind a bit to ask her writing teacher to clarify a comment she had left on her composition from the day before, and wondered a bit if Eiji and Oishi would wait for her. They'd probably be late for tennis practice if they did.

She made it out the door a minute before she knew they absolutely had to be at the tennis courts, and Eiji grabbed her and sprinted at a speed she hadn't known people could sprint at before then, making it to the tennis courts in a time of forty-nine seconds and not even breathing hard.

She retreated to the stands and did her homework.

"I can't wait to see Ochibi-chan play tomorrow!" Eiji told her after practice that day.

"Echizen is really that good?" She asked him.

"Yup! As much as I hate to say it, Ochibi-chan was probably the best of us besides Tezuka-buchou."

"And maybe Fuji," Oishi added.

"Yeah, maybe Fuji, nya." Eiji replied, stretching his arms as high as he could over his head and looking at the sky.

By the fourth day, Ren had figured out that the pair were probably going to pick her up every day and just waited for them at the door, even though the Chemistry teacher had let them out early.

"Who are you waiting for?" Sachiko had asked her, on her way to go watch the boys' swim team today. Apparently they were the last in the cycle – the girls liked to save the best for the last, and what was better than watching a bunch of wet, potentially hot, shirtless guys?

"Eiji-kun and Oishi-kun." She replied.

"Wow, are you going out with one of them or something? You left with them on Monday and Tuesday, too."

"No, Eiji-kun's an old friend of mine," she answered entirely truthfully.

"Oh." Sachiko's face seemed to droop at the evaporation of her possible gossip before perking back up. "That means they're still single then?"

"Yes," Ren told her, and Sachiko skipped off to watch the boys' swim team practice.

Eiji and Oishi dragged her off to practice again, and she sat doing her homework and watching the practice matches at the end again, and they all walked to the gate together again, but this time they didn't part five minutes from the gate.

"We're going to Seigaku, remember?" Eiji told her when she asked where they were going, and she almost whacked herself for her stupidity.

"Of course," she replied, and followed docilely.

* * *

They arrived at Seigaku's tennis courts shortly, and Ren looked around at the school she might have gone too had she not moved after the fourth grade. 

"It's nice," she finally decided, as they made their way to the front row where Kawamura and Inui were already waiting. Tezuka arrived some minutes later and sat in the most convenient seat – the one next to Ren, who was sitting to the right of Oishi, who was sitting in the next to Eiji, who sat in the middle next to Kawamura. Inui stood. Fuji arrived next, Kurosawa in tow, and decided after a bit of deliberation to sit down on Kawamura's other side and had Kurosawa sit down next to him. Which, incidentally, was as far away from Tezuka as Kurosawa could get. Ren admired Fuji's foresight.

"I wonder who's playing what," Kurosawa decided to say, triggering Inui to flip a few pages in his notes.

"There is a 94 chance that Momoshiro has Echizen playing Singles 1, a 98 chance that Kaidoh is playing Singles 2, a 59 chance that Arai is playing Singles 3. The probability that Momoshiro himself will play Doubles 1 with Houshimi Ayato is 52, and the probability that Kato Kachiro Mizuno Katsuo are playing Doubles 2 is 71." Inui said this all rather slowly, and then shut his book.

"And of course, Yuuta will be playing for St. Rudolf's," Fuji added calmly.

"Yuuta?" Kurosawa asked.

"His brother." Inui grunted. "The probability that he will be playing against Echizen is 51, and against Kaidoh it is 48."

"Ah." Ren answered, as the doubles players came out to start. It was two second-years from Seigaku (apparently Inui's data had been correct, as no one commented on it, and soon the announcer had told the crowd that the Kato/Mizuno pair from Seigaku would be playing, as well as the Momoshiro/Houshimi pair.

Ren sat back to watch the match.

* * *

Kurosawa was slightly relieved that Fuji had specifically made him sit at the end. If he was any closer to Tezuka, he was sure they would fight again and miss the match. But thus the match started. 

Doubles 2, with Kato and Mizuno went speedily with Seigaku winning after a hard fight with Saito and Ando from St. Rudolf's. The Seigaku friends cheered, then sat back to watch the next doubles, doubles 1. By now, Inui was looking extremely proud of himself for guessing the doubles correctly. And by now, Seigaku was leading, as Momo and Ayato had whipped Kitano's and Kazuya's asses. Our Seigaku friends cheered. Fuji smiled, "Ah, I knew they would learn a lot from last year." Kurosawa and Ren looked a bit confused. He clarified this by saying, "Momo and I used to stand next to them and describe what certain people were doing in the match." Both made a sign that they understood. Singles 3 finished, with Masashi Arai winning over Yamamoto Naoya. Kurosawa turned to Fuji, "Does St. Rudolf's have anyone good?"

Fuji looked at him and answered simply, "Yeeeeeeeeees. Yuuuuuuuutaaaaaaa."

"Oh."

* * *

Eiji turned to Inui. "Hoi hoi! Your data was a bit off there! Yuuta is going to play against Kaidoh in singles 2!" 

Inui looked at Eiji, his glasses glinting. "Eiji-kun. Do you want to try my new Inui Super Juice?"

Eiji turned pale and shook his head furiously.

Ren just looked at them blankly, while the others stared intently at the tennis courts.

Kurosawa was trying to remember when his vision and hearing had suddenly gone into slow motion when the Yuuta/ Kaidoh tennis match had started. He hadn't really noticed it (he was too busy staring intently at the court) but he realized that when Inui and Fuji were talking, it sounded abnormally slow.

Kurosawa's eyesight and hearing became so sharp sometimes, that everything he saw was in slow motion. That meant even he was in slow motion. The reason for this was the extreme pressure from match. The more pressure, the slower objects became. A very annoying little thing there (and it was often used as torture from Yuki..If there was no pressure in the match, Kurosawa had normal vision, regardless how close to the match he might be. It was an inherited trait that would actually help him play tennis, but Kurosawa didn't know how to use it properly, so it came off as a torture device. (And in this story, a joke)

* * *

Kaidoh and Yuuta stood glaring at each other. They had played until their respective scores were 10-11. Yuuta was on the verge of winning. 

The pressure was on. (Poor Kurosawa).

The Seigaku friends were rooting for Kaidoh, but Fuji was torn between Yuuta, his beloved little brother, and Kaidoh, his old teammate. He chose Yuuta.

Ren and Kurosawa on the other hand just sat there. Ren was spaced out and Kurosawa (as you may know) was seriously spaced out.

Then Kaidoh served with his Boomerang Snake. It made a wide and powerful curve around the tennis net. Yuuta ran to it and somehow successfully hit it. The rally continued until it was 30-0 to Yuuta.

It was Kaidoh's serve and Yuuta now needed one hit to end the game. Fuji became excited.

"Yuuta! You can win!" Everyone looked at Fuji.

Tezuka glared, "I though you were going to cheer for Seigaku."

Kurosawa leaned over and glowered back. "Why can't he cheer for his own brother?"

Tezuka glared, "Because Fuji is from Seigaku."

Kurosawa glowered, "Idiot. Fuji is also from St. Rudolf's."

Everyone laughed nervously, except for, of course Fuji Shusuke who just looked contented.

Ren coughed and said, "Stop please."

Tezuka, being a gentleman, stopped and sat back. Kurosawa made a face at Tezuka before turning back to watch the game. So, the fight ended and Kurosawa was now about to cry for getting into a slow-motioned argument.

Coincidentally at that time, Yuuta made his final counter, the Twist Spin Shot, and it successfully bounced off and out of Kaidoh's court. Seigaku groaned, while Fuji stood up and cheered.

Kurosawa sighed in relief, "The pressure left. I can hear and see properly." He saw Ryoma march out. His opponent, Makoto Ichiro, walked towards him.

Oishi wondered aloud, "Why didn't they put Yuuta up against Ryoma? This opponent is new. Is he that good?"

Inui pushed his glasses up and said, "No. There is an eighty-five percent chance Ryoma will win. And they didn't put him against Yuuta because they already played against each other."

"Oh. What happened to St. Rudolf's? Last year they didn't suck this bad."

"All their members graduated, leaving Yuuta captain. The rest are either novice two years or freshmen."

Everyone nodded.

Ryoma's match ended quickly. Yes, he won 6-0. Yes, Ryoma looked at Ichiro and said, "Mada mada dane", because that, after all, is _his_ phrase.

Seigaku cheered loudly. "Seigaku! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Eiji hugged Oishi. Kawamura hugged Inui. Momo ran to Ryoma and hugged him, then dragged Kaidoh into the hug. Fuji hugged Kurosawa, and Tezuka just nodded seriously.

"Ne, Fuji? Are you crying?" Kurosawa inquired.

Fuji nodded.

"Because of happiness or because of sadness?"

"The latter."

"Oh." Kurosawa patted Fuji on the head. Momo, Ryoma, and Kaidoh walked to them and were well received by their former teammates.

Momo teased Kaidoh, "Oi, Mamushi! You got beat by Yuuta! It's so surprising coming from you!"

Kaidoh just glared at him.

Yuuta walked over to the still crying Fuji and Kurosawa. He stood over them.

"Um, Aniki? You actually came to my game?"

Shusuke nodded.

Yuuta looked at Kurosawa, who looked up at him. Yuuta jerked backward in surprise.

"Are you my brother's girlfriend? Since when did he get one?"

Kurosawa frowned. "Ne, I'm a guy, baka."

Shusuke looked up. "Ah. This could be interesting. Do you want to come with us all to eat dinner, Yuuta? I was so proud of your performance today."

Yuuta nodded slowly.

* * *

They were at Kawamura Sushi. Again. 

Aikawa Ren was beginning to understand what Eiji had meant when he'd said they came here all the time.

This time Fuji had chosen to bring his brother, Yuuta, who sat at the table with her, Kurosawa, Kawamura, and Fuji himself. Everyone at the table short of Yuuta and Ren had started on the Makizushi again, so Ren turned towards the boy to her right to start a conversation.

"Hello, you're Fuji Yuuta, right? My name is Aikawa Ren. Nice to meet you." She shook his hand cheerfully. "You go to St. Rudolf Gakuen, don't you? How do you like it there?"

Still in shock from a combination of losing so badly to Seigaku (his brother's former school, goddammit!), being dragged by said school's tennis team and alumni to eat sushi, seeing his brother… CRYING on some girl's shoulder, being told said girl was actually a guy, and now being talked to by some girl he didn't actually know, he was a bit tongue-tied.

"Are _you_ someone's girlfriend?" he asked, and she blinked at him.

"If you mean that in the sense that I am a girl and someone's friend? Then yes, but if you mean it the other way, I'm not affiliated with anyone romantically at the moment." She told him, still smiling, and Yuuta stared at her and decided to eat a piece of makizushi.

"And…" he glanced shiftily at Kurosawa, who was at this very moment chewing on a wasabi roll – "Is that _really_ a guy?"

"He's said so, and as we have no better authority on the subject, we should probably believe him." Ren told him, glancing curiously at Kurosawa as well, and losing Fuji the younger again in the process. She reached for a piece of sushi, then thought better of it, instead taking another drink from her glass of water.

Kurosawa had finished eating now, and leaned his head down on the table.

"Ah, Yuki-obachan has been so annoying lately," he groaned, before sitting up and putting his hand on his head. "I've got a headache from some thing she made me drink, and she wants me home so I can take _more_ later. Anyone want to come with me?" Fuji the elder indicated yes, to no one's surprise. He was the person that had dragged Kurosawa into their group, after all.

On the other hand, Ren also volunteered. As did Tezuka. Which did surprise people.

Especially Tezuka.

"Why are you two offering? You barely know Kurosawa as it is, and you're both offering to take him home at night now. Why?" Momoshiro blurted out, only to be silenced by a glare on Tezuka's part. "Uh, so… Who's going?" Momoshiro decided to ask, only to be greeted by the same three hands.

"Why don't we all go?" Ren asked after they sat there for some time in silence, waiting for one of the other people to put their hand down. "It looks like we all have our own reasons for going, anyways."

Kurosawa shrugged in response to that, standing up, paying his portion of the bill, and leaving the restaurant. No sooner had they reached the outside of the restaurant than Tezuka introduced what seemed to have been his purpose in coming.

"Kurosawa, I want you to run all the way to where you live. No public transportation, no stopping. Same for you, Fuji, though you can pace yourself to match Kurosawa."

"No." The effeminate boy glared at Tezuka, wondering why exactly he had come with him just to order him to run laps, probably. Seigaku's former captain sighed.

"Run."

"No."

"Yes."

Fuji and Ren didn't say anything.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"You should probably say something," Fuji whispered, nudging Ren.

"Eh?" Ren asked. "Why me?" For good reason, she thought. Of everyone, she had the least connection to either Kurosawa OR Tezuka as of yet. It made no sense.

"Because it would be interesting," Fuji said, smiling and somehow looking the closest he could come to how Inui usually did – calculating and ready to record the consequences.

"Uh… okay…" She whispered back, before tapping Tezuka, who was right in front of her, on the back.

"Ah, Tezuka-san?" she asked, cutting him off in the middle of a fairly heated 'Yes.' "I think that… I have to go now. My destination is in that direction," she said, pointing deeper into the food district, instead of to the residential area.

Tezuka stopped for a moment, before lowering his shoulders, turning in the direction she was pointing at, and pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Why are you going there?"

"To eat dinner," she responded.

* * *

"Eh? Didn't we just eat though?" Kurosawa asked Ren. 

"Yes. But I didn't." Everyone looked at each other, then looked back at Ren.

"Okay," they said together.

Ren smiled and walked to the food district. Then, Kurosawa suddenly remembered why they were standing there in the first place.

"Ren! You want to come to my house for dinner?"

Ren stopped and turned. "Okay. I'll go."

15 minutes later the small group stood in front of Kurosawa's apartment. Ren had passed out from walking so far without any food. Tezuka, gentleman as he was, caught her as she fainted. Then, each boy took turns carrying her until they reached the house. So, by the end of the trip, both Fuji and Kurosawa looked slightly cross about the situation. Well, I should say Kurosawa looked slightly cross, while Fuji just smiled his usual smile. Tezuka looked at the apartment.

"Shall we go in? This lady has passed out. Do you have anything that can revive her?"

Kurosawa glared at Tezuka, "Yes. A cold cup of water and food. Let's go." They all went into Kurosawa's apartment.

Now what went through Kurosawa's mind when they entered was this: "Hahaha!! Tezuka called Ren "Lady"! That's so funny! …Oh shit! There are sooo many things in this house that indicate I'm a girl. Especially my room! I forgot to clean up this morning! Damn it!"

So Sakura (notice it's back to Sakura again) coughed nervously and said, "Ah, I need to go clean up the rest of the house a bit. You guys stay here in the living room."

"How about this lady?" Tezuka inquired. Sakura tried to keep herself from exploding from laughter.

"Um… just lay her on a couch. I'll get her some things."

With that, Sakura ran around the house, picking up and throwing away anything that hinted any girliness. She encountered Yuki in the kitchen.

"Ne! Yuki-chan! Some of my friends are here!"

Yuki looked at her and said, "Good."

Sakura jumped up and down frantically, "Yuki- chan! They don't know I'm a girl and I didn't even clean my room!!"

Yuki stopped whatever she was doing and looked at Sakura. "Got it. You go clean up your room." Sakura dashed off, but remembered something.

"Ne! Yuki-chan! There is also a girl who passed out from walking and lack of food. Can you help her?"

"Ok."

Yuki poured some tea and grabbed some food. She entered the living room and stared at the sight before her. Tezuka was sitting anxiously over a slowly waking Ren, and Fuji was sitting in front of them, smiling and thinking, "I wonder where Yuuta is now. I should have brought him along."

Ren got up and her eyes fell on Yuki.

"AAAH!"

Both screamed out. Well, correction. Yuki screamed out, and Ren blinked and pointed.

"Y-you-you! Ren!"

"Hello Yuki-obachan."

"DON'T CALL ME YUKI-OBACHAN!"

Ren sat there and nodded. Tezuka and Fuji looked at each other, then looked at Ren, then stared at Yuki.

"You know her?" Fuji asked.

"…", responded both Ren and Yuki.

At that moment, Sakura stumbled into the room, panting. "Okay! Ne… obachan… are you going to give that food to Ren?"

Yuki nodded and set the plate down. Then suddenly a dark aura filled the room.

"BAKA! HOW MANY TIMES DID I TELL YOU NOT TO CALL ME OBACHAN?! CALL ME YUKI! YUKI!"

"Hai, Yuki-obachan."

"DON'T CALL ME YUKI-OBACHAN! BAKA!"

"Hai, Yuki- oba."

"WHAT? YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT BAKA!"

"Oh. Ok."

Yuki stormed out of the room. Tezuka just sat there looking slightly shocked by Yuki's dark side. Ren munched on her food, which, coincidentally, she liked. Fuji sat there and smiled, "That was very interesting. Both of you are very similar."

"WHATI?" yelled Kurosawa (whoa! back to Kurosawa now)

The dark aura returned. Yuki entered holding a pitched of this disgusting purple and green juice. Except you couldn't really call it juice. It was still chunky; if you had a spoon, you could have eaten it like frozen yogurt. But, the catch was, it didn't taste anything like frozen yogurt. Yuki smirked, "Time to have your second dose of Yuki's Supreme Memory Smoothie!"

Kurosawa sighed. "Why is everyone giving me memory juices?"

Yuki glared, "Because you don't have your memory, baka." She turned to her company, "Would you like some?"

Fuji nodded and was given a cup. Tezuka hesitated for a split second (and I mean a split second… Tezuka does not like to show himself hesitating) then nodded his head. Ren shook her head. So Kurosawa, Fuji, and Tezuka turned to each other and clinked cups.

"Cheers!"

They downed it. Kurosawa looked fine, Fuji just smiled, and Tezuka just sat there. Kurosawa said, "This is gross, and it really hurts my head."

Fuji said, "This is good. I'll recommend it to Inui."

Tezuka sat there. What was going through his mind was somewhat interesting. It was this, "Gotta keep my cool. I can't throw up in front of everyone, especially that Kurosawa… argh… no wonder why he can drink Inui's juices so naturally. He's forced to at home." What he said was, "I want to see your room Kurosawa."

Kurosawa nodded painfully, "Okay! Let's go." Everyone got up and went to Kurosawa's room.

Yuki smiled evilly, whipped out a watch, and started timing.

Meanwhile, Tezuka, Fuji and Ren were looking at Kurosawa's room. They explored in thoroughly. After a few seconds of silence, Kurosawa began to worry about their thoroughness.

Ren actually was curious about Kurosawa. Kurosawa's aunt was Yuki, and Ren knew that she had an aunt named Yuki. If Yuki was Kurosawa's aunt and Ren's aunt, then they would be… cousins. OMG.

Tezuka was looking around the room for clues about tennis. He wanted to see if Kurosawa had anything that had to do with tennis. He didn't. It was all in the bathroom. (They were messy like that)

Fuji was being Fuji.

"What is this?" Tezuka reached for Kurosawa's pillow and pulled something out. Sakura held her breath. It was a magazine.

Kurosawa relaxed. But not for long.

Tezuka flipped through the book. He looked up.

"You look at this?" He held up a picture of a girl in a bikini. He changed the page and there were more girls, in rather ecchi poses and clothes. Fuji smiled, and then opened his eyes and glared at the girls. Ren just stood there. Kurosawa, on the other hand, had a more extravagant reaction.

"YUUUUUUKIIIIIIII! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU! GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW! AND I MEAN NOW! NOW!" That whole phrase, except "Yuki" was spoken in Chinese, a language that Yuki did not know, so she did not show up. Kurosawa quickly realized his mistake and shouted again, this time in Japanese, "NE! GET OVER HERE NOW! YUKI, YOU ARE SO DEAD!"

Yuki walked over. "Is something wrong?"

Kurosawa pointed at the magazine that Tezuka was holding.

"Oh that. Wow. Record timing. 30 seconds."

Kurosawa looked like he was about to explode, but after staring at the magazine for a little longer, looked like he was about to cry.

Ren cleared her throat. "Um, I think it's time for us to go. Right, Fuji, Tezuka?"

Both nodded, and Tezuka dropped the magazine on the bed. Kurosawa walked out with them.

Just before leaving the house, Ren felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Yuki. She said, "Ren, talk with me. You seem to need to get things clarified. Plus, you probably already know."

They talked.

Meanwhile, Kurosawa had finished explaining the situation to Fuji and Tezuka.

Fuji asked, "So Yuki put that magazine under your pillow on purpose? It sounds valid considering she timed our reaction."

Tezuka folded his arms. "I still think you are a perverted guy. I guess it's because of your own girliness and insecurity that you feel that you must look at those dirty magazines."

Kurosawa glared at Tezuka, "You think so? Maybe you look at them yourself, so you want to believe that I actually look at that disgusting piece of crap."

Tezuka glared back, "I don't. You pervert."

Fuji placed his hands on each person's shoulder. "Now, now. You do know, Tezuka, that Yuki- obachan obviously did it on purpose, considering she looked so happy when we reacted in 30 seconds."

Tezuka grudgingly resigned and started to walk away. Kurosawa thanked Fuji.

Tezuka suddenly said, "Where is Ren?" Kurosawa and Fuji shrugged.

"You guys can leave. If she's here, I can bring her home. But she most likely left already," Kurosawa reasoned. They both nodded and walked away.

"See you at school," called Fuji.

"See you at the next match," murmured Tezuka.

Tezuka turned to Fuji, "Ne Fuji, why did you glare at the magazine?"

Fuji just smiled.

* * *

Ren pushed a few stray strands of hair away from her face and behind her left ear as Sakura returned to the kitchen, pulling off her wig and dropping it on the counter next to her. 

"Yuki-obachan, this 'Supreme Memory Restoration Smoothie' gives me headaches! God, I can't – Oh my god, you're still here!" She stared at Ren, who seemed to be examining Yuki's recipe for her Supreme Memory Smoothie, and made a grab for her wig. Ren looked up and stopped her.

"You don't have to bother," she told the stunned girl, who had set the light brown wig back on her head anyways to cover the ponytail she had unintentionally revealed. "I would have guessed anyways."

Sakura stared.

"What? B-but- HOW? What on earth are you TALKING about?"

Ren shifted her weight so that her back went straight, and she set her forearms down on the table so they crossed. The shorter girl opened her mouth to talk, and was promptly interrupted by Sakura's ever-enthusiastic aunt taking a nearby hand mirror and setting it in front of Sakura, right next to Ren.

"Baka!" She shouted, pushing her niece's face in the direction of the mirror. "Look at your EYES. They're exactly the same as Mom's and Suzume's and Michiko's! I can't believe you've been hanging out with her for a few weeks and you STILL haven't noticed!" She threw her head back and raised her hands towards the ceiling, as if wondering what she would ever do with the girl standing next to her.

"…Huh?" Sakura replied ever-so-coherently, mulling over the information she had just been given in her head. "Michiko is Mom's name, right? And when you say Mom, you mean Grandma. So Suzume is…"

"My mom," Ren answered softly, having already returned to examining the overly-complicated recipe.

"_Ren. Talk with me. You seem to need to get things clarified. Plus, you probably already know." Kurosawa's aunt led the silent girl into the kitchen, and sat down at one of the two bar stools by the island._

"_Kurosawa's my cousin?" Ren, still standing, dove right into the heart of the situation as soon as they were in the kitchen and the other high-schoolers were safely out of earshot._

"_Uh, um… yeah." The woman looked a bit taken aback, blinking the large, wide eyes that had passed by both her older sisters. She recovered her bearings quickly after Ren's straightforward question and sat down next to the girl. "How did you guess?"_

"My mom's maiden name is Kurosawa," Ren said, as if that explained everything, the same way she had when her aunt had asked her to explain earlier.

"_And you're my aunt, and you're also Kurosawa's aunt. It makes sense. The only problem with the idea, really, is that I didn't know I had any male cousins. I think I heard you saying to Mom that Michiko-obasan had a girl about my age the last time I saw you, but that's it. And her last name wouldn't be Kurosawa, would it… She would have her dad's last name, right?_" _Ren paused, pondering the impossibilities, and Yuki decided that she had dropped all pretenses already and might as well explain everything._

"_Well," she began, "How do you even remember that? You were six or something – I was surprised enough that you seemed to recognize me when you walked in!" She extended her hand in front of her face, palm facing outwards, fingers spread. "Don't answer that. You were always good with that stuff. Anyways, Michiko married a Chinese guy. You don't expect her children to take the last name 'Chen', do you? It's enough that Sakura looks hybrid as it is!"_

_Ren raised her right eyebrow – maybe her left one as well, but the hair that fell down the left side of her face covered what Yuki might have seen of that._

"Sakura?" She probed, again paralleling the earlier conversation. Her cousin, as she had deduced, was going through what seemed to be the same thought processes as Ren had followed before.

"_Yeah. Sakura. She goes by Chen Ying Hua, in China, I think, but she's Kurosawa Sakura here. Or Kurosawa Sakuya, I should say."_

"…_Ah," Ren replied after a moment's silence. "I think I see."_

"Just one question," she asked what she hadn't before, wondering if Sakura had figured the situation out yet. "Why the disguise?"

Sakura, looking mildly irritated now, jerked her thumb in her aunt's direction.

"Ask Yuki-obachan. I don't remember anything."

"Is it short-term memory loss or chronic amnesia?"

"…Just ask Oba-chan," Sakura deflected the question again, only to be met with the back of Yuki's hand. "OUCH! That HURT!"

"What did I tell you about calling me Oba-chan, again?"

"Don't do it, I know…"

"Good." Looking a bit more pleasantly at Ren, Yuki explained a bit more of the situation. "Sakura needed more of a challenge playing tennis, and the girls' teams in this area aren't that great. So – "

"I don't know how to play tennis, though!" Sakura interrupted again, causing Ren to raise her eyebrow again. She had shaken her hair back a bit, and Yuki could tell now that it really was only her left eyebrow.

"– well, she used to, at least. So her father requested that she play for the boy's team before he left, but after he and Michiko were gone, the coach at Kawagaku retired and a new guy stepped up, and he didn't let ANY girls participate on the tennis team, even one with Sakura's circumstances. So we had her dress up as a guy." She finished explaining, matter-of-factly.

"And the memory loss?" Ren prompted, without any prelude whatsoever.

"Amnesia. Car accident." Yuki answered matter-of-factly. "Now you should be getting home – make sure to ride the bus this time, we don't want you collapsing again. Suzume's going to start worrying about you."

"…Mom and Dad don't get home for another hour," Ren argued, but she started making her way out the door, before poking her head back in.

"Which way is the nearest bus station?" She asked, and Yuki told her to turn right and go two blocks down.

"Yuki-obachan," Sakura asked her aunt after Ren shut the door behind herself, "Since when did I have another aunt?"

"Oh, Suzume was disowned," the woman replied as if people both discovered long-lost cousins and found out their equally long-lost aunts were disowned everyday, before making her way up to her bedroom, saying something about it being late and needing her beauty sleep. Sakura sighed, pulled off her wig again, unclipped the barrette holding back her bangs, and undid her ponytail before chasing after her aunt to extract more information.


End file.
